Mills v. Duryee 11 U.S. 481 (1813)

U.S. Supreme Court

Mills v. Duryee, 11 U.S. 7 Cranch 481 481 (1813)

Nil debet is not a good plea to an action founded on a judgment of another state. It is a judgment between the parties, and the proper plea is nul tiel record.

There is no difficulty in the proof of the judgment. It maybe proved in the manner prescribed by the act of Congress, and such proof is of as high a nature as an inspection by the court of its own record or as an exemplification would be in any other court of the same state.

Error to the Circuit Court for the District of Columbia in an action of debt upon a judgment of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, to which the defendant below pleaded nil debet, which plea, upon general demurrer, was adjudged bad.

By the Constitution of the United States, Art. IV, sec. 1, it is declared, that

"Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof."

The Act of May 26, 1790, vol. 1, p, 115, after providing the mode by which they shall be authenticated, declares that

"The said records and judicial proceedings, authenticated as aforesaid, shall have such faith and credit given to them in every court within the United States as they have by law or usage in the courts of the state from whence the said records are or shall be taken."

And by the Supplementary Act of March 27, 1804, vol. 7, p. 153, § 2, it is declared that the provisions of the original Act of 26th May, 1790, shall apply as well to the records and courts of the respective territories of the United States and countries subject to the jurisdiction of the United States as to the records and courts of the several states.

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